Condolences to family of Great Patriotic War veteran Vasily Kononov

Dmitry Medvedev sent his condolences to the family of Great Patriotic War veteran and former Soviet partisan Vasily Kononov following Mr Kononov’s death.

The President said, in particular, in his telegram:

“Vasily Kononov selflessly fought the Nazi invaders throughout the years of the Great Patriotic War.

He remained loyal to the common bonds forged in battle and defended the truth about the events of those years throughout his entire life.”

Vasily Kononov was born in the village of Staruya, Latvia, on January 1, 1923. During the Great Patriotic War he commanded a partisan detachment in the 1st Latvian Partisan Brigade. After the war, he was head of the criminal investigations department, and then of the transport police, in the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic. He had the rank of militia colonel. Mr Kononov was awarded several Soviet state decorations. He received Russian Federation citizenship in 2000, but lived in Latvia’s capital, Riga.